I had a prof. mathematics (and physics) in high school that often posed problems related to our everyday experiences, as original as intractable for young students, although with good will and acumen. They include, for example, the calculation of instantaneous speed of a train according to the trajectory described by a raindrop on the window of wagon in which sat the hypothetical person traveling/solver … Needless to say, the drop continued to draw many lines on the fogged window without discovering the train speed.

Somehow my memory is back to those days when grinning with classmates heard the dark prof. stating one of his legendary ‘probbblems’ of Physics, when I noticed in the big ‘De Bijenkorf’ in the city center of Rotterdam, the oldest chain of Dutch commercial centers, an umbrella capable of challenging even the most powerful storms.
This is a simple collapsible umbrella, characterized by an asymmetrical and aerodynamics shape that allows, as the authors demonstrate through several test video (from the parachute jump to the tunnel aerodynamic tests), to deal with winds ranging from summer breeze to the worst storms, with speeds over 100 kilometers per hour without suffering any damage or shock and thus ensuring the safety of those who uses the risk of being soaked (www.senzunbrellas.com).
The SENZ is so ingenious as it is functional and can, in one shot, significantly improve the usability of a
everyday object on which no one would believe even try to study some form of innovation or change, not only for its strength, but also for better visibility obtained by front structure ray shorter than rear ones.
The idea comes from the frustration of Hoogendoorm Gerwin, Industrial Design student at the University of Technology of the beautiful city of Delft, a few kilometers from Rotterdam (www.tudelft.nl), which after broken three umbrellas in a single day because of the storm, thinks he can solve this problem studying helicopter blades and magnetic fields.
Here’s how to think outside the box to innovate!
In 2005 his Thesis on the storm-proof umbrella, and in 2006 comes the first production of 10,000 units sold in less than 10 days, thanks the trust received from a Dutch bank lending.

Winners of the Red dot design award 2007, the Dutch design award 2006, continuing research diversifying patterns in size and 2010 expose the Fuori Salone Milan.
Surely the invention without constituting a valid example of how you can manage to create a business on acommon object and starting from widespread problems of Daily Use, revised and reinterpreted by the creative thought of a designer: bringing you continuous innovation, with lots of fun! perhaps even to walk well covered in the rain, when the others stop with the broken umbrella.